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We can report that actor Jean-Paul Ly is circling a starring role in Rift, now in-development from director Haz Dulull. Further casting remains pending as the film crews up behind the scenes for a possible 2019 production start.
A few meetings followed after Ly and Dulull met about a year ago as the burgeoning immersive sci-fi director whose credits include Netflix release, The Beyond, and 2036: Origin Unknown starring Katee Sackhoff, became a fan of Ly’s work in the last few years – most prolifically, the 2017 Cambodian martial arts comedy, Jailbreak, from director Jimmy Henderson.
Dulull had even teased the project discretely on social media for a short time before quietly rolling out teaser preliminary artwork. Nowadays, the two are now part and parcel to the film’s active development as more hands join in for a possible 2019 production start.
Dulull is penning the script with Montana scribe Jeremy Sheldon to adapt the following logline: A nihilistic police officer goes to extreme measures to protect a young boy who has the ability to tap into multi-dimensions across space and time.
Dulull is also producing the film via his Haz Film banner with Paula Crickard who produced Dulull’s films, in addition to serving as digital intermediate producer on David Yates’ Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.
Ly’s career in stunt performance and small action-acting roles includes credits on Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist, TV series Cuckoo, Jon M. Chu’s Now You See Me 2 and Scott Derrickson’s Doctor Strange. Since then, segueing into more formidable acting roles has been part of Ly’s primary forté; Jailbreak earned the Bronze Prize for Most Innovative Feature Film at Fantastic Festival last year among its accolades, and Marc Price’s Nightshooters premiere at the Thriller! Chiller! Film Festival in Michigan snagged a win for Best Action. Ly starred and served as fight choreographer on both films, shared collaborative weight on the latter film with action director Donovan Louie.
Ly also choreographed Jimmy Henderson’s latest 2019 entry, The Prey, and is also tapped to star in Bart Ruspoli’s directorial debut, 14 Fists which is slated for a Q1 2019 start date with the newly-cast John Hannah and Bai Ling. Other upcoming releases will see Ly appearing in The Take Down, the newly retitled assassin thriller from stunt professional-cum-debut director David Newton and starring Jack Jagodka, as well as Ross Boyask’s recently-wrapped Vengeance 2 with Stu Bennett and Vinnie Jones, and Kenneth Brannagh’s upcoming Disney adaptation, Artemis Fowl, starring newcomer Ferdia Shaw and actress Lara McDonnell for an August 9, 2019 release.
Ly is repped by Sara Moore at Core Mgmt London.